Finding a Little Beauty Through Hardship In Life

While flipping through the latest edition of Creative Quarterly, I saw this photo selected for the journal of art and design, and decided to click their link to see more of the artist’s work at InterStitch. In his photo series from the capital city of the Congo, James Kenney (A.K.A. Jim) uses colors that I can’t even put a name to.

But what I really love is that his scenes show the chaos, poverty, and disease of the city through a hopeful, feminine palette of dusky tones. He explains that despite their hardship, the Congolese people have an incredible spirit for life, expressed through their vibrant clothing combinations. Jim is primarily a documentary filmmaker, but his decades of work spans art, writing, and design.

He told me that he likes to intersect elements that it doesn’t seem possible to fit together, and to see what they can tell us about our lives. Big goal – but he was a professor of design. He also was chosen to complete the practical film laboratory course at Pixar, where his first documentary was screened, and he worked for years in Hollywood… His work was even shown during the Academy Awards. His films explore hell, dictators, and Polacks (a derogatory term for Polish people). Jim Kenney explores the beauty that exists even in hardship. Check him out.